Key Question

Question 1

Q

Answer 1

To what extent are role models in the media responsible for anorexia?

Question 2

Facts

Answer 2

• Anorexia is an eating disorder
• Behavioural symptoms - Weight is less than 85% of expected
• Cognitive symptoms - Distorted self perception of body shape & overemphasis of its importance for self-esteem
• Emotional symptoms - Intense fear of gaining weight
• Somatic symptoms - Absence of menstruation (amenorrhoea) for 3 months
• Affects 1 in 200 adolescents
• 90% of sufferers are female
• Most common in 15-18 year old girls (1%)

The media is often blamed for influencing Anorexia, various things like size ‘0’ models, airbrushing and digital editing of photographs give people unrealistic goals and lower people’s self-esteem

Question 3

Facts

Answer 3

• Operant conditioning also contributes an explanation: positive reinforcement might be glances from other people and compliments for being thin or losing weight;
• negative reinforcement might be no longer being picked on for being fat; and negative vicarious reinforcement might be observing others being bullied due to them being overweight
• Jones and Crawford (2006) – teasing – mechanism on overweight girls and underweight boys (most likely) – enforces gender based ideals.
• Social learning theory suggests that people imitate the behaviour of role models they can identify with
• The trend towards size zero on the catwalk – the desire to be thin – leading to anorexia influences young people
• The work of Bandura suggest that we are more likely to copy the behaviour of our same-sex models: these size zero models are all women, and many teenage girls want to copy their image
• Becker’s results